I already suspected that the music in this series would be awesome when I realized that this show would have the same composer as Shion no Ou, but I’m really glad that in the end, this show did end up with an amazing and very strong soundtrack. This show is very emotional, and this soundtrack fits it perfectly.
Now, I have no idea why, but for some reason anime around board games in generally turn out to be amazing, so it took a lot of balls for Chihayafuru to try and challenge them. Overall, compared to Shion no Ou’s first four episodes it’s more exciting. However, Shion no Ou eventually turned into one of my favourite series thanks to its fantastic characterization. Compared to Hikaru no Go’s first four episodes, Hikaru no Go was better, but then again, Hikaru no Go did have some of its best episodes there, and became a bit stale in its middle part. Let’s see how this show managed to evolve once it enters its second half.
And god dammit that cliff-hanger! It wasn’t that it came from out of nowhere: you could see this twist coming based on the first episode. We don’t all stick with our childhood hobbies. That was a strong point it made here. In this episode, Taichi got pulled back in by Chihaya’s spirit. Arata however had something happen to him that made him lose interest. This episode gave no hints as to what that was, however. We’re going to have to wait a week for that?!
The big challenge for this show will still be to keep all of its matches interesting, and the relationship between the three main characters will be a key in this. This episode was still wonderful because of how it showed how Chihaya has grown. This series still needs to convince me what’s so great about Karuta. This isn’t a prerequisite: while watching Shion no Ou, Giant Killing and Hikaru no Go awakened my interest in Shougi, Football and Go, Touch, Ookiku Furikabutte and Cross Game didn’t really make me want to learn more about baseball. It would be a nice side-effect, though.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Category: Chihayafuru
Chihayafuru – 03
Well, those were three opening episodes that were as good as I could have hoped for. At first I thought that this show would take a bit of a gear back in order to slowly show Chihaya growing into Karuta. And instead it wrapped up the childhood arc, ending with the three main characters all going separate ways for a while. Again a lot of stuff happened here. It’s a great idea to take the first three episodes to develop the cast when they were kids. With this, the only show this season that has a chance to beat this series’ first three episodes is Un-Go if it plays its cards right.
Why I like this show more than the others: it’s got both the best characters, and the most energy in its direction of the season. This show is both really well acted, but it also manages to really put a force into each of its scenes that makes every minute interesting to watch. Compared to the series that carefully build up their stories (for example Hunter X Hunter, Fate Zero, Persona), it’s much more engaging, and compared to the series that try to deliver immediately (Mirai Nikki, Ben-To) it’s the best at setting up a great base for the rest of its series, both in terms of characters and atmosphere. Again with the sole possible exception of Un-Go, and again that series is going to have to put in real effort to actually be able to beat this thing.
With this, the creators also gave a great depiction of the tired trope of childhood friends. This usually sucks because it’s often just slapped on. You want two characters to have a special bond? Wham! Childhood friends! This show turns the tables around by first of all creating the young versions of the characters, and have them grow from there on. Their younger versions feel like they’re a part of them, rather than just some plot devices. This episode was also full of the tiny details like Arata’s movement while he was sick, or how much emotion the animators managed to bring in just about every shot.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Chihayafuru – 02
As for the shows I’m not going to blog:
– Tamayura is great, but I’d rather cover a more eventful series. Let me get back to it when Bento or Last Exile turn out disappointing, though.
– Same for Kimi to Boku.
Chihayafuru though would be a no-brainer.So far it delivered the best opening of the new season so far (with Fate/Zero on second place, by the way). It sets itself apart through its characters: this and Tamayura are the only shows where they already come alive. And Tamayura cheated by already having four OVA episodes that preceded it. It’s a combination of a lot of factors. The animation is for example excellent, especially during the Karuta matches, but also the best still frames feel like the characters could just walk out of it.
The character designs here are wonderfully subtle, and Madhouse actually got itself a budget to make them shine. In fact, this season they are in no way plagued by their acting problem that has been bugging them for years now. Hunter X Hunter and Chiyahafuru have the perfect combination between good character-designs, while not being to complex, making them hard to animate.
The writing and acting also shine here, depicting the cast as gifted characters, but at the same time they’re still kids. The least interesting part is the reasons behind the drama and the cheap tricks that were pulled in this episode like hiding glasses (hey, they’re kids), but the way in which this show portrays emotions was really outstanding.
My question is: what can you do with Karuta to make this last for 26 episodes (and possibly even longer in manga-form)? Compared to Go and Shougi, it doesn’t seem as deep. I mean, as soon as you’ve reached the point where you remember every card in the game, doesn’t it just become like a contest of who can recite the digits of pi the fastest?
This is where the first episode comes into play though, because there that red-haired guy had the exact same worries that I’m having right now. This really started as a kid’s hobby and the three main characters will probably have a lot of fun playing Karuta in the future. However, the red-haired boy eventually grows to like other things, while the lead female wants to go further with it. I’m looking forward to see these kids change and grow apart, and Chihaya’s reasons for continuing to play on.
Rating: ** (Excellent)]]>
Some Quick First Impressions: Persona 4 The Animation, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai and Chihayafuru
Persona 4 The Animation
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a transfer student with special powers.
Seeing as how this was the most hyped up series of the new season… it felt oddly disappointing. I’m not referring to the characters, although that pee-moment certainly didn’t help, but what striked me the most is that the storytelling was completely off. In particular, this episode didn’t seem to care much about timing or build up. It didn’t seem to know how to create an atmosphere, it jumped around way too much instead of establishing things, and everything happened way too quickly . This episode had a very short attention span, which really hurt any attempts on drawing in the viewer: one moment the main character is in a shop, the next he dives in a tv. It just doesn’t flow well and there were a lot of anti-climaxes in this episode. Was the game really that long, forcing such a fast pacing? Oh, and this is just a small detail, but I consider it very important too: the show had what sounded like a great soundtrack, but it didn’t seem well used at all. There were lots of scenes with no background music at all, and it only started playing at the most predictable moments.
OP: Funky
ED: Again, funky. If only the rest of the soundtrack was like this.
Potential: 60%
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is surrounded by cute girls.
For a while, this episode actually avoided the usual warning signs. When it was just the main male and female together, this show avoided fanservice, the female lead was eloquent, rather than stupid, and about the only big cliche was the deadpan snarker male lead. Then the second female lead arrived, the girls turned tsundere and they wasted no time in making boob jokes. This show… when I first read that it’d be about people who are bad at being friends, I thought that this would be a show about outcasts. Instead, the main cast consists out of two people with foreign looks, suffering from Japan’s xenophoby, and another character who refuses to talk to others because of… arrogance I guess. That was not what I expected. Strangely enough, these people didn’t seem to suffer from insecurities at all. Instead, the emotion that prevailed here was annoyance for not being able to make friends. It doesn’t have the biggest cliches: aside from the boob jokes this episode refrained from beating any dead horses, but it has relatively little that it can call its own. The xenophobia was probably this episode’s biggest asset, but that was handled very one-sidedly: everyone is afraid of the main characters, aside from the really good-looking girls (yay for subtlety!). This was neither the worst moe show of the season, but it also certainly wasn’t the best.
OP: FANSERVICE!
ED: Why the nuns?
Potential: 40%
Chihayafuru
Short Synopsis: Our lead character plays card games.
This had the best animation of the new season so far. Seriously, Madhouse made this series look absolutely gorgeous. The use of cg is excellent, while it completely lacks the acting problems of Madhouse’s usual series. The shots are all creative, the animation is smooth and life-like. It would be awesome if the creators could keep it up like that. The rest of the episode also was wonderful: instead of most series about games, the female lead Chihaya isn’t a complete rookie at the start: she has been playing the card games (and seriously, they’re not what you think: this is miles away from Yugioh) for a few years now. In fact, this series series shows how she got introduced to it when she was still a grade schooler. What especially caught me however was how well it used its animation to portray the game. The soundtrack is also exceptionally well used. This is one to keep an eye out for: rock-solid… though it’s a shame that it’s a manga adaptation. Of a manga that isn’t finished yet.
OP: A bit generic, but certainly not the worst of the season.
ED: Simple, but very pretty visuals, with a decent ballad.
Potential: 90%]]>